HTC Desire 601 and 300 Bring One Features to Emerging Markets

The key features HTC introduced with its flagship One handset are continuing to resurface in the company’s midrange and low-end devices. HTC is announcing two such smartphones ahead of this year’s IFA conference in Berlin—the HTC Desire 601 and the budget-minded HTC Desire 300.

The LTE-enabled Desire 601, HTC’s new midrange device, comes with the BlinkFeed home screen that debuted on its One earlier this year. The optional home screen arranges news and social media updates of your choosing in a tiled format, similar to the way Microsoft arranges the main user interface of its Window Phone mobile devices.

In addition to BlinkFeed, the Desire 601 will come with HTC’s Zoe feature for capturing quick three-second clips and Video Highlights, which creates 30-second video montages in the form of highlight reels. Other camera features include Sequence Shot (burst mode), Always Smile (similar to Samsung’s Best Faces) and Object Removal (erases unwanted background objects).

The device will sport middle-of-the-road specs that include a 5-megapixel main camera and VGA front camera, a 4.5-inch qHD display and a 1.4-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM on the inside. The Desire 601 will run on Android with HTC’s Sense skin layered over it, although the company has not specified which version of Android it will ship with. Measuring 5.3 x 2.6 x 0.3 inches and weighing 4.5 ounces, the Desire 601 is slight longer and lighter than other mid-range smartphones such as $99.99 Pantech Perception (5.2 x 2.8 x 0.4 inches, 4.8 ounces).

It’ll also come with dual-front facing speakers just like the flagship HTC One, which means we can also expect to hear HTC’s BoomSound audio technology in the Desire 601. Users will get 8GB of onboard storage with the Desire 601, although it comes with a microSD card slot expandable up to 64GB.

HTC Desire 300

The Desire 300, comparatively, is an entry-level handset with a 4.3-inch WVGA display. Like the Desire 601, HTC’s lower-end smartphone also comes with BlinkFeed, but there’s no mention of support for Zoes or other advanced camera features.

The Desire 300 will run on a 1-GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of onboard storage (expandable to 64 GB via microSD). Similar to its mid-range sibling, the Desire 300 comes with a 5-megapixel main camera and a VGA front shooter. It’s also around the same size as the Desire 601, measuring 5.1 x 2.6 x 0.4 inches and weighing 4.2 ounces.

HTC hasn’t disclosed pricing or availability for either smartphone, but has said that the Desire 601 will be available across Europe, the Middle East and Africa in October. The Desire 300 will hit select markets in October as well. HTC’s new pair of Desire smartphones may not be the fastest or flashiest, but they’re enough to bring HTC’s newest smartphone features to emerging markets.

Lisa has been reporting on all things mobile for Laptopmag.com since early 2013. When she’s not reviewing gadgets, she’s usually browsing patent databases or interviewing experts to track down the hottest tech trends before they even happen. Lisa holds a B.A. in Journalism from SUNY Purchase and has contributed to The International Business Times, The New York Daily News and Guitar World Magazine.